The Virginia Cavaliers males’s basketball staff misplaced to the NC State Wolfpack in dramatic style within the ACC Event Semifinals on Friday night time, having the lead within the remaining minutes solely to relinquish it within the remaining seconds of regulation earlier than State pulled away in time beyond regulation.
Following a loss that felt fully avoidable towards a lesser staff in a recreation that may’ve put an finish to any questioning about UVA’s NCAA Event standing, we’ve obtained 4 takeaways.
UVA’s incapability to hit free throws bites them when it issues most
Keep in mind the times when Virginia’s greatest gamers made the clutch free throws that the staff wanted to advance in match play? Good instances, been some time. Wouldn’t blame you in case you’d forgotten.
I hate to pile on Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely who have been actually the one ones who created offense for the ‘Hoos on this recreation (and for many of this season). Extra on their lack of assist later.
However… whew man. With 51 seconds on the clock, up 5, and a one-and-one alternative on the charity stripe, Beekman made the primary to go up six, then missed the second that may’ve made it a 3 possession recreation. Casey Morsell then made all three free throws after Ryan Dunn fouled him on a three-pointer, reducing the deficit to a few.
Andrew Rohde’s missed three-pointer on the following possession gave the Wolfpack a shot to tie the sport. However swarming Virginia protection compelled Morsell to attempt to fall into Dunn on one other three, and McKneely got here up with the rebound with 5 seconds left on the clock, in want of 1 solitary made free throw to seal the Cavaliers’ destiny on this recreation and on the NCAA Event bubble.
However McKneely clanked the primary shot of the one-and-one off the entrance of the rim, UVA dedicated a serious tactical blunder by not placing anybody on the blocks to foul the rebounder when up three with 5 seconds left with loads of fouls to provide, and for the second consecutive recreation an opponent tied the sport within the remaining seconds to pressure time beyond regulation.
Then, not like on Thursday night time, the ‘Hoos couldn’t take management of the time beyond regulation interval, and the Wolfpack made their free throws to drag out the victory.
McKneely and Beekman are the 2 greatest gamers on this staff. They scored 40 of the staff’s 65 factors. Beekman went for 17 factors, 11 assists, 4 rebounds, and two steals on 6-13 capturing from the sector. McKneely completed with 23 factors on 8-15 capturing from the ground and an superior 5-9 from three.
However in addition they mixed to shoot 6-11 from the road, and missed essential, free alternatives when the sport was all however over and the staff’s destiny all however sealed. It’s a brutal actuality. But that’s what might be remembered about this end result. Virginia has been a nasty free throw capturing staff all season lengthy — they at the moment sit 355th out of 362 groups at a putrid 63.7%— and that weak spot misplaced them this recreation.
Virginia’s restricted offensive creation isn’t sufficient
Gamers not named Beekman and McKneely sporting white on Friday night time mixed to shoot 11-38 (28.9%) from the sector and 3-16 from three (18.8%) for simply 25 factors among the many seven of them.
Woof.
Taine Murray hit some massive pictures late within the second half that helped propel the ‘Hoos to a number one place, and Ryan Dunn and Jordan Minor’s presence on the offensive boards produced a powerful 17 second likelihood factors throughout 45 minutes. In order that helped.
But UVA scored simply .956 factors per possession towards KenPom’s 93rd ranked protection. That’s not going to chop it, even with the Wahoos’ top-10 protection.
Dante Harris and Andrew Rohde — the 2 transfers who have been imagined to fill the void left by Kihei Clark and Armaan Franklin’s departures final offseason — have been abject failures relative to expectations this season. Murray is a wonderfully succesful complementary participant, and he’s completely earned his position after which some on this staff. However the truth that he’s fully jumped the 2 transfers within the rotation signifies simply how dire issues have been in UVA’s backcourt past Beekman and McKneely.
Not that the frontcourt was ever going to be a supply of scoring for this staff, however fellow switch Jacob Groves shot simply 1-6 (1-4 from three for 3 factors) on the night time. Dunn added 10 factors in his typical position as a finisher.
Ultimately, although, there simply wasn’t sufficient juice to squeeze out of this offense, and extra guys are going to should step up for this staff to make an NCAA Event run — in the event that they get that chance.
DJ Burns proves to be an excessive amount of for the Packline protection late
I’ll hold this transient as a result of I’m positive no person is happy to dwell on this recreation. But Virginia had no actual solutions for DJ Burns, though he solely performed whole 24 minutes. The large man scored 19 factors on 8-11 capturing and, most notably, scored 10 factors within the final 8:52 of the sport to finally put NCSU forward for good.
Even Jordan Minor couldn’t comprise Burns’ influence, and UVA’s choice to usually go away Minor on an island towards Burns damage them. To not say that such a technique was significantly ill-advised — we’ve seen Virginia get burned (pun-unintended) this season for being over-aggressive on doubles within the submit. Burns was merely an excessive amount of throughout 45 minutes for the vaunted Cavalier protection to deal with.
Welcome again to the bubble Wahoo followers!
It’s fairly unlucky that UVA ended up having to play two far decrease seeds than initially anticipated. On the similar time, the ‘Hoos had the proper alternative to grab an ACC Event Championship berth and solidify their NCAA Event hopes with wins towards definitively worse groups, they usually squandered it.
Clemson shedding to Boston School and Duke shedding to NC State put Virginia in a clumsy place the place what had initially regarded like a win-and-in state of affairs within the ACC Quarterfinals (and perhaps even lose-and-in if it’d been Clemson) become needing two wins towards determined groups searching the automated qualifier.
Now, particularly with different bubble groups across the nation successful video games, UVA’s destiny is within the committee’s palms. It’d be odd to see a staff that completed third within the ACC, made the ACC Semifinals, completed 13-7 within the convention, 23-10 total, and with no Quad 3 or 4 losses not make the match. However that’s the place issues sit, and that’s why it’s not good to have a mean deficit of 18.1 factors in these ten losses.
The remainder of the weekend’s outcomes throughout faculty basketball will doubtless be the ultimate figuring out elements relating to whether or not or not Virginia misses the NCAA Event for the second time in three years. And we’ll hold you up to date on how issues develop. Sadly, although, UVA has now misplaced management of its personal postseason future with this loss.
Choice Sunday’s gonna be anxious.